The Daily Gaggle

Wednesday, 14 February 2018

The accommodation provided at this top of the range Pussy retreat is beyond belief.
The owners of this extravaganza you may have guessed -I know fairly well.
Just take the tour and be amazed.
Simply Google JARVIS BAY CAT COTTAGE.

The village Fete was aways deliberately held during the most promising sunny day during mid - July when it was attended by the vast majority of the population of Lower Frogsbottom, a Village within a valley of the Chilterns in rural Oxfordshire England
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The mass hysteria, centred mostly around the beer tent and other local yokel exciting happenings were the guessing of the weight of the pig. an unfortunate little porker destined for the Barbeque, other exciting activities, like dipping the lady and the inevitable Cocoanut Shy.

As was the usual thing the opening ceremony was always heralded by the arrival of the village Squire The Hon Sir Marmaduke Calders Smythe The 14th Earl of Frogsbottom. and or his Trophy wife. The former beautiful Anna Comeley, now lady Frogsbottom; three decades his junior also unknown to her husband as the Bike,

On this particular day the beautiful Lady Comely had arrived on her black stallion and wearing the Red and Black riding habit together with the riding crop, her flowing blonde hair glinting in the rays of the sun - with her stunning angelic countenance mindful of the long gone Fox hunting days of yore.

It was not only the village boys who were enjoying this spectacle but the local Damsels too who were observing the commotion being created among the four-legged fillies mounted by other less important upper-class snobs - being caused by the excitement of lady Comley's Stallion.

The seemingly thoughtless late arrival of Sir Marmaduke in his Rolls Royce motor car with the new quiet Merlin engine, suitably adorned with the heraldic sign depicting a Unicorn Together with a Crossbow; which few could understand the meaning of. the duke then announced that there had been a Cave in at the edge of the pond near his residence which was unfortunate being that the Ducking stool used in the ceremony had plunged to the bottom of the forty fathom deep pond formerly a chalk quarry some four hundred years ago

So instead of the Ducking ceremony we are having the Witch burning ceremony being reintroduced which caused much wailing of the village Hags, who in days gone by were the unfortunate victims of this cruelty which supposedly solved the funny goings on around the time of the 1600's, when witch hunting was a sport and reduced the age of some women particularly if they were deemed as Ugly and therefore a Witch .

So being burned at the stake the body being Barbequed so to speak meant a feed for the local dogs or any New Zealander with a taste for 'Long Pig.'

Suddenly the whole fete area became chaotic, a fox had sneaked in much to the delight of the local dogs who gave chase among a mix of people and horses, Horses and dogs ran amok in a scene of devastation never before seen at Frogsbottom. No deaths were reported.

Thursday, 8 February 2018

It is becoming more like a comic book with most of its pages dedicated to sport and brothel adverts Today's top story pulverises the Australian Deputy Prime Minister , Who it seems to have been shaking his tail with one of his favourite female staffer's currently in the Pudding club to the shock horror of his wife of 24 years and his four daughters.

The Deputy Pm first of all ,states , "I am deeply ashamed but is madly in love with his new squeeze..
This sort of thing happens within 50 % of Australian marriages. "Quite True" say I ,. However I am of the opinion that - that 50% involves 95 % of the countries celebrities silver tails and politicians not the common herd.

His family state that they gave up their own careers and education to support him over the years.

During the last week or so.I have received several telephone calls from aged - old shipmates whom I served with during WW2 as far back as 75 years, They are not bloggers and have few if any computer skills being that George H, 95 married to Muriel 95 for 70 years are in a nursing home.in Chatswood Sydney..

Then there is Jim who phones regularly, Jim is blind and his daily carer dials the phone; he is a widower of 94. lives alone about 80 kls north of me .

.Finally there is Pat , 92 Married to Betty 90 for72 years they have lived in the same house in Shepparton Vic for 65 years.

And myself the young one at 91 widower to Rosemary , married 63 years. collectively we are the sole survivors of the flag ship of the Brit Pacific Fleet WW2 Our total respect for each other has never ceased and never will. Hardly a week passes before I receive a call from them or visa versa
Vest not forget. lest we forget.

Where I stood by the WHITE LILAC bush in the back garden, the piston driven plane approaching from the south on its way to the local Airport at Newcastle in NSW Australia - its thundering noise while in its descent revived a flicker of bad memory from the vaults of time; stored in my brain from a long past era.

However, not so vivid today, instead we have a mad woman - an aged spinster who arrives at her weekender up the road with her animals each weekend , whose dogs and her screeching Galah's and Cockatoo's in her garden reply in their own way to the noise of the descending plane. A prediction of this occurring is inevitable; it rarely fails similarly to the howls of local dogs whose accompaniments to the sound of an Ambulance heading for "Heavens Door" the local retirement village where most of the local Hospital's patients originate from.

So to avoid this bedlam I retreat from the exterior into the quietness of the house where I go to the utility room to wash the bacteria of the garden earth from my arms and hands; I twitch as the unexpected coldness of the water hits my hands, having done I head for the office with a cup of tea and later while sitting at my desk hear the less noisy return of the plane heading in a different flight path over the mountain lake.

A quietness then descends for a while, then as I gaze from the front window the slow return of the ambulance from 'Heaven's Door' is followed shortly after by the all too familiar Black Van from the undertaker heading in the other direction.

Monday, 5 February 2018

I had to go shopping today being all the fresh veggies had been consumed and little else to excite the palate, although the freezer held a variety of animal flesh(NO LONG PIG) and frozen veg, my culinary attributes rarely succeed with out the inclusion of fresh veg. The other occupier of our residence my eldest son 63 consumes most of the food in the house and proof of the pudding is that I have lost 34 kilo's in the past fifteen months without trying unless not drinking alcohol or cutting down on deserts which my wife had a hand in preparing. , but now it is my responsibility for the whole caboodle and I am pleased to know I am now just 82 kilo's..
So off I go to the Shopping centre: 3.5 minutes driving ( yes I drive At 91.6 years of age A 4litre Ford Falcon.) I park Successfully and meet the heat , I am beginning to perspire getting to the Air-con comfort of the Centre , (two minutes walk.) The place is busy despite it being Monday, but is the lunch hour for some. I then visit Coles Supermarket for items I have marked on my shopping list then I go into 'Priceline' a shop which discounts the same items Cole's , Woolies and Aldi sell for more. mainly non script Pharmaceuticals cosmetics and vitamin pills, I used my Deceased Wife,s reward card and received a 4 dollar something discount and the cheeky lady who I knew well Say's " Thank you Rosemary" A bloke waiting to be served gave me a funny look and I hurried off to Aldi where at the check out lady Say's " been to Coles eh" Yep Say's I - Have to , you don't sell everything. " I know Say's she but will in time"
. By this time the trolley(Cart) was fully loaded and heavy and with a mind of its own' navigating a wobbly trolley among people who refuse to move is tiresome . Eventually back at the car extremely hot . I transferred the trolley contents into the posh English bags I had sometime ago bought while on holiday in the UK. I then prepared for the long 3.5 minute drive home after a minute of relaxing. A tap on the window and a hairy face made an enquiry in a most ungentlemanly manner if I was staying all day. I left giving him the one finger salute.
Arriving Home I honked for my son to come and carry things indoors I was totally exhausted after unpacking I slept for two hours then prepared dinner.
One day I shall retire.
Vest... daily Gaggle. Back soon.

Friday, 2 February 2018

Hong Kong Island.in the sixties
Over a period of Two years plus I had the opportunity to visit some of the homes of the more well to do residents of Hong Kong IE Fragrant Harbour, Due to the clouds and mist most of these homes had a strange odour of dampness, some of these homes were quite old and unlike the apartment My family occupied on Wongneichong road which circumnavigated 'Happy Valley race course, Being the first occupants in 1962 the Three blocks of twenty Apartments ten story's high were high spec and sumptuous. but nothing like the vastly high blocks of concrete which replaced them in 1997 when they were demolished.
While in Hong Kong I had the dubious luck to come in contact with many celebs of sorts and one being a Arthur Halliwell of Brit Daily Mirror fame who wrote a column under the title of Cassandra, who you may remember if you are aged like myself; was the villain in the lawsuit brought by the famous Liberace against the Brit Daily Mirror columnist Cassandra AH himself. This Vitriolic attack on Liberace cost the Daily mirror lots of Dosh.In 1956 Daily Mirror columnist Cassandra wrote a vitriolic attack on Liberace that he took as an accusation that he was homosexual. He sued for libel, swore under oath in the witness box that he was straight, and won. His award of £8,000 damages and £14,000 costs equates to £14,000,000 and £24.400,000...today.
My meeting with Arthur Halliwell was when he had been invited to a party within our Base and while waiting to be escorted recalled the party he had attended 'Up the Peak', when this well oiled Brit dowager stated, " Lovely Party Darling 'Hic' I don't think there is a soul here who lives below MAY Road"..

Thursday, 1 February 2018

Several people have asked recently"Is that you' in the Black & white Pic on your Blog Heading."
Yes it is me. However, the pic was taken by a friend while being very silly by taking a swim from 'Little Sober Island' in Trincomalee Ceylon (SRI Lanka) not at all clever was the silly thing which followed, when I chased this very large Black and yellow Eel in the shallows and eventually spearing same- bagging it and taking it back to the ships galley plonking it on the bench and saying to the Chinese cook ; "here you are cookie boy get stuck into this for your brekky.". What followed was sheer panic' You Stupid SOB it's a bloody great Deadly sea snake Say's cookie boy , one bite from him you gone mate.'" fortunately it was deceased when I threw it overboard but the silly stigma stayed awhile. one of my critics suggested if it had bitten me they would get a day off to attend my Funeral. PIC Vest 1960 Aged 34

Wednesday, 31 January 2018

Lord BYRON slept in the beds of some two hundred or more ladies ? so the lurid stories of him reveal, however, he was not the homely bed making person; more like a SUBMARINE dweller - where on which the bedding had multiple users.
It was on my Forty third birthday; I recall, The day of the APOLLO 11 moon launch 16th July 1969 on that day I had travelled to Portsmouth (ENG). I had been invited by an old friend to visit The SUBMARINE The HMS RANGER Despite of the fact that the crew had had a few days to tidy up the interior since returning from sea the un mistaking smell of the SUBMARINE was BLOODY awful, even so only a few of the crew were on board when I arrived having previously doused myself with 'Super CONFIDENCE' a strong deodorant. capable of defying the smell of an aged billy goat. when one aged subby Say's " What's that funny smell " I replied "Anti Submariner stink" " never heard of it Say's he" . I wasn't surprised at his remark.
It was a standing joke in the Brit Royal Navy that, if a sailor 'Whiffed a bit' he was deemed to be a Submariner.
But it came to pass as the saying goes there had to be a reckoning the Old Brit SUBMARINE was totally different to the sub I visited in New London Connecticut USA the US Nautilus in 1965; it was larger than the ship I was serving on, a converted destroyer HMS Verylam... and the turkey dinner on the Nautilus went down well too.

About Me

Ardent family orientated bloke,love my family lots.
Love Australia my Beautiful adopted country, but remember passionately my home village, Chalgrove in Oxfordshire, England. My favourite friends would include several shipmates I am in close contact with who served with me while in the British Royal Navy ..going back a fair bit.
There is also the silence of my age, too full of wisdom for the tongue to utter it - in words intelligible to those who have not lived-the great range of my life.
Vest.GSM, LSGCM, WM, B/PM, ITM, UNM, K-N M, EOW M, Asia- PAC M. ROYAL NAVY 25yrs, Retired.